Employee fired over anti-Creationism e-mail takes her case to court… again

Ever get an e-mail and forward it to your friends or coworkers as an “FYI”?

Well, if you’re the head of science curricula for Texas public schools and that e-mail was a link to a scholar that critiqued teaching creationism, you might end up losing your job.

That’s what happened to Christina Castillo Comer, the former director of science for the Texas Education Agency, who had to leave in 2007 after sending an “FYI” e-mail about an anti-Creationism speaker coming to Austin.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard her case yesterday, after an Austin federal court dismissed her claims last March.

The agency says she was endorsing the position and violating their policy of remaining neutral on controversial topics, according to the AP. Comer argues that their idea of “neutrality” is based in religion and violates the First Amendment. Government agencies cannot constitutionally establish religious preferences in their policies.

By professing “neutrality,” the Agency unconstitutionally credits creationism, a religious belief, as a valid scientific theory. The Agency’s policy is not neutral at all, because it has the purpose or effect of inviting dispute about whether to teach creationism as science in public schools…. The Agency’s “neutrality” policy violates the Establishment Clause … because it has the purpose or effect of endorsing religion.

Comer left the agency, which must comply with the State Board of Education’s standards, just weeks before a planned revision of the science curriculum. The board skews conservative, and both its current chair Cynthia Dunbar and former chair Don McLeroy are creationists.

You can listen to yesterday’s oral arguments here. The court has not issued a ruling.